Earlier today Business Wire and ITDatabase announced the launch of TechCalendar, the industry’s most comprehensive, searchable, directory of tech events, speaking opportunities and awards.

TechCalendar takes the tens of thousands of consumer and enterprise focused tech industry events, awards and speaking opportunities and places them into one easy to search database. This single database provides PR professionals the ability to easily search, find and act upon highly relevant promotional opportunities.

Updated continuously, TechCalendar features a number of options for tech companies to track events important to their brand including:

Easy event and award discovery by keyword, topic or organizer

One-click “following” of all relevant events and awards, as well as show organizers

In an age where Hispanic media outlets are understaffed and reporters are on tight deadlines—in comes a new free service called Expert Latinos. Expert Latinos was created to help Hispanic reporters find sources and experts for their stories, saving them time and energy.

The way it works is very simple. Basically the reporter fills out a quick form directly on the website (ExpertLatinos.com) detailing what they are looking for. The request is then sent via a daily email to the list of subscribers, which consists of experts, entrepreneurs, public relation professionals and much more. As a subscriber, if you see a story in which you can contribute to, you then simply reply directly to the reporter via email.

Reporters are submitting queries for just about anything from “I’m working on a story on the future of Spanish in the U.S. and need an expert in linguistics” to “I’m currently working on an article and need to interview entrepreneurs to talk about the best tools to grow their business.” Best of all, it’s completely free for reporters and sources alike.

So if you’re a source or expert and are looking to promote your business and get free exposure you can sign up here. Stay on top of the daily email alerts because you never know when something might come up where you might be the perfect fit. Simply reply back to the reporter via the email they provided.

If you’re a journalist and are looking for an expert or source for an upcoming story you can start submitting your request here. Reporters can also chose to send their queries anonymously, in which case their outlet and email will not be disclosed. Expert Latinos will then receive the responses and forward them to the reporter.

In the piece, “The Role of Social Media in Today’s Newsroom” Business Wire senior editor Paul Bowman takes a closer look at how today’s reporters are utilizing social media in their day-to-day work. And the results are somewhat surprising. While today’s reporters rely heavily on social media and company newsrooms for research and article promotion, they are not interested in receiving pitches on this channel.

In this piece by Ibrey Woodall, Business Wire’s VP of web communication services, we take a closer look at the various ways public companies present their company news to reporters, analysts and other parties.

Some online newsrooms combine public relations, branded content and investor information on one single landing page. While this allows all interested parties access to a wide range of content, many experts have noted that the experience these newsrooms present are not customized enough to produce significant results.

The other option is to decouple company and branded content from investor information by creating two sites, an online newsroom and an IR site that link to each other as needed. Since each audience has such differing goals when visiting the company’s site, this allows each section of the website to be tailored enough to the visitor that it drives higher rates of adoption of content and alignment with the company message itself.

What type of corporate online newsroom does your company have? And why should you care? (Hint –over 70 percent of reporters access the company’s news page when writing a story). Read more here to find out which set up works best for you and your goals.

Not only do we cover the 7 types of news reporters want to see in a press release, we discuss what supporting assets work the best. As we move into a more visual, interactive world, text-only press releases are becoming increasingly rare. Reporters are using images to round out their story and if you are not providing one, your competitor may be.

Over the past few decades, healthcare has been one of the most hot-button topics in the United States, but not more so than since the signing of the Affordable Care Act into law in March of 2010. With the passing of this law, there has been a dramatic increase in discussions about a wide range of health-related topics.

As the public attempts to absorb the enormous volume of information available, from both a personal interest standpoint as well as an educational one, more and more organizations are turning to media outlets to tell their story. Especially as media continue to be a top resource used by the general public to learn more and determine which side of the debates their beliefs fall.

With more news than ever being created to share, it is more and more important for today’s PR professionals to learn how to write, and distribute news of interest to reporters and their readers.

With this in mind, BusinessWire Media Relations Specialists Molly Pappas and Simon Ogus presented the HealthWire Webinar featuring three reporters and communicators who talked about their daily lives as healthcare reporters and shared top tips on how public relations professionals can build stronger, more beneficial relations with today’s media outlets.

During the hour-long webinar many topics were covered, including what makes a healthcare story interesting to cover, the best way to pitch and the best things to include in a pitch to reporters. Additional topics included the current status of healthcare reporters in regards to the AHCA and the biggest challenges in grappling with these complex healthcare issues and communicating them to the public.

On the communications side, Ms. Baldwin also provided examples of what Memorial Health Care System is doing to engage reporters on current health care events, such as utilizing “viral” events like LeBron James experiencing thigh cramps in the NBA Finals to promote their health campaigns in engaging and unique ways. The initiative was to try and prevent cramping and other preventable injuries among the youth in the Miami region, which normally isn’t the most exciting topic to read about it. But Ms. Baldwin’s successful attempt to angle a topic with a popular NBA superstar like LeBron James in a real-life application gave the initiative life that had to be quickly capitalized on after James’ injury in the NBA Finals. It was a strong example of pouncing when mainstream news event happens around a topic you are looking to pitch.

The discussion began with what makes a healthcare story interesting to cover. The answers were wide ranging, but the overt message was to give reporters a story that can not only captivate an audience, but that is useful to both core, and secondary audiences. The reporters discussed how they often times receive stories that are just not that interesting, and sometimes some pitches are interesting but the angle doesn’t show how the story would be relevant to a big enough audience to warrant moving forward with a story.

One good rule of thumb provided was to read the release as if you were the reader of this story. Does it interest you? Does it make you stop and read the story in the publication you are perusing? If the answer is not a resounding yes, then it puts the reporter in a tough position to justify putting in the time and effort into completing a story that could not be well received by an audience.

The talk then diverted into a discussion on the Affordable Care Act and how reporters view reporting on the topic and if it is still relevant in the minds of the public even though it has been reported on extensively over the past months and years. The reporters said that the topic is still relevant, but must be approached from a fresh viewpoint or include a real-life application so that the readers can instantly see how it affects them in their day-to-day lives. The general consensus was that even after all the coverage the topic has received, there is always space for a story pitched in a creative way with a real-life application.

Next the panelists discussed the challenges of often times receiving slanted or outright purposeful misinformation from a PR professional, and the panel admitted it is just part of healthcare reporting. There are many varying viewpoints out there, so it is important for communicators and PR professionals evaluate all data thoroughly to ensure that misleading information isn’t disseminated to the public that could be harmful to their health or personal lives. The panelists agreed that sending supporting documents is helpful in supporting healthcare claims.

As we wrapped up, we asked the panelists where they discovered new story ideas. Every panelist still saw strong value in the newswire as well as on social media. While social media is a bit more challenging due to the day-to-day clutter and “noise,” all three panelists said they are active on social media and use it to communicate with industry professionals.

The interactive webinar included a wide variety of questions on the minds of healthcare public relations professionals. While the central focus of the webinar was on healthcare issues, many of the techniques and advice that the reporters shared can also be utilized in other realms of the public relations world.

Do you have a Webinar topic that would benefit you? Feel free to reach out to Simon Ogus (simon.ogus@businesswire) and/or Molly Pappas (molly.pappas@businesswire.com) and we would be happy to incorporate it in a future Business Wire webinar.

Earlier this year, Business Wire released their 2014 Media Survey in which we asked 300 reporters, journalists, editors, bloggers and freelancers a wide range of questions related to how they cover company news. Their answers provide a very clear road map to media relations best practices in 2014. In this post, we look at the top five questions that make up the new rules for media relations in 2014.

1. Reporters have to meet metrics too With 44 percent of media survey respondents now writing for online publications, the metrics in which the success of an article is based upon have changed. Thanks to unprecedented speed and reach of news enjoyed by the world today, story views have replaced print sales, social shares replacing water cooler discussions.

As we have discussed many times, one of the easiest ways to increase the visibility of coverage of your organization is to share it out. Utilize social media to increase the chance of likeminded individuals and influencers finding out about your news, while assisting journalists in meeting the overall story’s own success metrics.

The next press release you write should not only focus on the breaking news you are sharing, but include facts, angles, quotes and other assets to increase usefulness to reporters.

3. Your Multimedia Asset or Theirs? 73 percent of reporters in this survey said photographs were their most favored supplemental asset communicators could provide them. Almost every online and print article today includes multimedia. When you provide interesting, usable photos, graphics, infographics, video and more, not only are you helping the media outlet, you are also telling your own story, in your own voice.

When was the last time you took a critical look at the information on your website or within your company online newsroom from the perspective of a reporter on a deadline? Is your information easy to find? Can reporters download or embed assets instantly? Is your site impeding your coverage? Did you know that 88 percent of reporters asked said press releases were their most desired type of content in an online newsroom? Do an audit of your website and, specifically your online newsroom. Refresh this important asset to increase usability.

5. Which newswire do today’s reporters prefer? When provided with an array of choices, 71 percent of journalists and media outlets responding to this survey selected Business Wire as their top choice for news releases.

With more than 50 years of leadership experience in the news distribution industry, while we are proud of this statistic, we are not surprised. Every day we are a conduit between media outlets, reporters, bloggers, analysts, brand fans, organizations, corporations, start ups, Fortune 500 companies and more to ensure timely distribution and receipt of the world’s leading corporate and organizational news.